YES, no one wants a "free for all". NO, we cannot accuse an entire community, and go for some primitive "collective punishment". 1) The problem is, as the author admits, "not a single terrorist has been arrested, tried and convicted since the Diwali blasts in New Delhi, 2005". When the State FAILS, people will take the law into their own hands. That is how it works - whether we like it or not. We sure do not like it. British bloggers were saying, after the london tube-train bombing, "If this continues, we should be ready for a civil war in Britain." 2) Could the "post-Godhra" riots themselves be because of the feeling that the train burnings would be "washed clean by vote-bank politics"? 3) The climate of "pampering" or "appeasing" cannot be doubted. In a family of several children, if the parents pay excessive attention to one child, that child will develop a special psychology - "This family owes me. I must enforce my special position." Amazingly, that child will develop more and more grievances. That is a fact. The family will be destroyed psychologically. None of the other children will have respect for the parents, who were incapable of impartiality. For a State and Media in a multi-religious, multi-ethnic nation, IMPARTIALITY and fearless enforcement of the law and conventions is very important. The State must maintain the CONFIDENCE of a majority of its people, FROM ALL COMMUNITIES. Vote-bank politics has damaged India more than we realise.
